Pro-Israel rally mourns innocent victims in Gaza

About 200 people took a moment to pray Thursday night for all innocent victims of the conflict in Gaza.

It was a pro-Israel rally, called Freedom from Terror, at the Beth Israel synagogue in Halifax.

“Israel and Palestinians are both the victims of Hamas,” said Rabbi Ari Sherbill. “Their campaign of terror as a result has had innocent lives result in death.

“What separates us from those who celebrate death is our sorrow at all innocent victims.”

There were several local speakers Thursday night before a huge screen showed a satellite feed from a rally in Toronto.

One of the local speakers, Cathy Fox, told the crowd about her son Craig. He’s a 24-year-old Haligonian who went to join the the Israeli Defence Force.

At 3:15 a.m. on Tuesday morning, she got a call from a hospital. Her son told her he was holding a nightlight so they could pound a hole through a wall to shoot from, when his hand was hit with a sledgehammer.

Then the snipers started firing, and a rock dislodged by a bullet struck him just under his helmet.

“He said, ‘I’ve injured my eye, I have scratches on the corneas and cuts.’

“He said, ‘I should be better by Tuesday and I’ll be going back in to join my unit.’”

Cathy told the rally that her son feels what he’s doing there is very important.

“He said it’s gotten so bad over the past couple weeks, the atmosphere has changed, the degree of fear has increased — but the people are behind them.”

In a phone interview, Ismail Zayid, president of the Canada Palestine Association, said there would be two pro-Palestine rallies Friday at the public library on Spring Garden Road and at the Dalhousie campus.

“We believe these are outrageous war crimes being committed against innocent people, supported by governments like the United States, Canada and others,” Zayid said.